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Adobe AIR for desktop and mobile applications

We just announced at MWC (Mobile World Congress) that the first mobile OS that will run AIR is Android (others will come). In fact, if you are in Barcelona the next few days, drop by the Adobe booth to see demos of AIR applications working on Motorola Droid. If you can’t drop by in person, you can watch videos with Kevin Hoyt demoing AIR on Droid.

What does it mean? Let’s put it this way: if you are a Flash developer, then pretty soon you’ll be able to develop applications (web or standalone) targeting Flash Player 10.1 and AIR 2 on a huge number of devices (laptops, net books, desktops, mobile phones) and across different OSs (Win, OS X, Linux, Android, Symbian, and Palm OS).

Of course the number and diversity of the targets are impressive, but what I think is even more important for any developer/business than this, is that you can use the same workflows/tools and produce a consistent result.

I’m lucky enough to have a Nexus One for about a week by now. Testing different sites that use Flash Player, it feels kind of magic :D (as a Platform evangelist I have an early version of Flash Player 10.1 installed on the phone). Can’t wait to have the time to write some apps for Android, I have a couple of ideas. This means I will have firsthand experience in using our tools to produce apps for the mobile world.

What about you? Anyone feels like it is time to step up into a new market/world (from web/desktop apps to mobile)?

Sorry for the confusion. Flash Player is different from AIR. One can be used for creating apps that run inside the browser, the other for standalone apps. This is the same on computers or mobile devices.

From a technical point of view, AIR uses Flash Player. Thus you can imagine that once you have Flash Player running on a specific platform, it is not impossible to have AIR running on the same one.

You don’t have to be worried about this. Flash Player 10.1 on smartphones will come this year. We are working with our Open Screen Project partners (RIM, Nokia, Google, Palm, HTC just to name a few) to make this reality. As I said, just a little more patient.

This is interesting for sure, but I’m curious about how developers will be able to *market* AIR apps.

Will there be an improved centralized marketplace for phone (and desktop) users to find, pay, and download AIR applications? Adobe’s current marketplace lacks the ability to collect payments, and is so poorly promoted outside of the developer community, it may as well not exist.

Without the ability to reach a massive audience via some sort of highly publicized marketplace with built-in payment systems — the lack of eyeballs and the complexity for downloading and collecting payments will keep me and most potential developers looking for greener pastures.

Having an easy way to monetize AIR apps is something we care a lot. It is too early for now to talk about this, but I can say that you will be able to monetize AIR apps vie common marketplaces or online.

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